The Pioneer of liver transplantation in Egypt and the Middle East

Founder of the Organ Transplant Unit at Ain Shams University Hospitals

Struggled to establish laws regulating organ transplants in Egypt

Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini, the pioneer of liver transplantation in Egypt and the Middle East, was born in Cairo in 1962. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University in 1985 and was appointed a resident physician for general surgery at Ain Shams University Hospitals from 1987 to 1990.

El-Meteini obtained a master’s degree in general surgery from the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University in 1989, and traveled to France for clinical and experimental training in liver transplant operations at Cochin Hospital, University of Paris.

He worked as a surgical consultant at Saint Louis University Hospitals in Paris, France. He obtained a doctorate in general surgery from the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University in 1993. He then traveled to Japan in 1996 and obtained advanced training in liver transplant surgery at Tokyo and Kyoto University Hospitals.

First liver transplant

El-Meteini established the first living liver transplant unit for adults and children at Wadi Nile Hospital in Cairo. He then established the organ transplant unit at Ain Shams University Hospitals in 2008, which is the first dual center for liver and kidney transplantation for adults. He also performed the first laparoscopic resection of the liver in the left lobe. From a living donor, in addition to chairing many national, regional and international conferences.

El-Meteini was the first to perform a liver transplant from a living donor, and he was also the first to perform a double liver and kidney transplant.

El-Meteini published many research papers in local, regional and international periodicals, and chaired many local and international conferences.

He struggled with many of his colleagues to establish laws regulating organ transplants in Egypt and was a member of the committee that drafted the law regulating organ transplants, which was approved and approved by the People’s Assembly in March 2010.

Scientific committees

He participated as a member of the committee that developed regulations and specifications for the technical infrastructure equipment for licensing organ transfer centers. He is also a member of the National Committee for Organ Transfer and Chairman of the Committee’s Professional Ethics Committee. He was a member of many regional and international societies for general surgery and organ transplant surgeries. He was also a founding member and secretary of the Arab Liver Transplantation Association.

El- Meteini was Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Egyptian Liver Cancer Society, and a member of the Healthcare Advisory Board of the EgyptAir Foundation from 2007 to 2013. He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the SEDICO Pharmaceutical Company from 2009 to 2012, and member of the Advisory Board of Ain Shams Specialized Hospital and Wadi El Nile Pharmaceutical Company.

He was appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, from August 25, 2015, to August 2019, and CEO of University Hospitals at Ain Shams University. In August 2019 until August 2023, he headed Ain Shams University and is a member of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Universities.

Academic activities

El- Meteini has many academic and scientific activities, as he is a professor of gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary surgery from 2004 to the present, and director of the Ain Shams Center for Organ Transplantation (ASCOT), Ain Shams University from 2007 to the present, a visiting professor at Claude Bernard Lyon 1 University, France, a visiting professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University. - 2014 (Founder of the LDLT Program), Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University 2015 to date, Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Al Ain University, UAE 2012.

El- Meteini also participated in developing the Egyptian guidelines for the national survey and methods of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of liver cancer in Egypt, and submitting them to the Ministry of Health, and developing the Egyptian guidelines for screening and treatment of liver cancer. In addition, he is a reviewer and reviewer for the HPB journal of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (IHPBA), Reviewer and reviewer of the papers of the LDLT Section on Living Donor Liver Transplantation submitted to the Annual International Conference of the International Society for Liver Transplantation, held in Chicago, USA, in July 2015. Reviewer and reviewer of research projects in Liver Diseases submitted to the Science and Technology Development Fund.

El- Meteini had many contributions to the development of management in many of the departments he led, as in 2015-2023 the complete digitization process for hospitals began, and HMIS and the overall university management system UMS were developed.

In the period from 2019-2023, in cooperation with “ASU – to learn”, the first management system for e-learning and “ASU – to test” for electronic exams was developed, and during 2015-2023, the comprehensive renovation and development of the infrastructure of hospitals and the university was led, and during the same period work began. Ain Shams University Medical City to transform Ain Shams University Hospitals into a model medical city. This included the renovation of 70 operating rooms, intensive care units, the establishment of an emergency hospital, a pediatric complex... etc., with a total capacity of 3,500 beds for the Ain Shams University Medical City.

During the period 2015-2019, 4 new departments were established in the Faculty of Medicine: Medical Education, Emergency Medicine, Health Quality, and Clinical Genetics.

From 2015-2023, he worked on developing and implementing an ambitious plan to collect donations for the entire university as of 2019, with a total number exceeding two billion Egyptian pounds over 8 years.

During 2015-2023, El-Meteini headed the team responsible for the accreditation of the Faculty of Medicine in 2018 from the National Authority for Educational Quality Assurance and Accreditation, which was followed by the university’s accreditation in 2023, which continues until now.

In the period from 2020-2023, he was able to establish 3 new faculties at the university: archaeology, veterinary medicine, media and digital communication, in addition to the restoration of the historic Zafaran Palace in cooperation with the Ministry of Antiquities and the opening of the “Saffron Museum” in the basement of the building for the first time to display pharaonic and royal artifacts in May 2023.

In 2023, the process of adding a French bachelor's degree in medicine targeting Egyptian and French-speaking African students began.

awards

Dr. Mahmoud El-Meteini received the State Award for Excellence in Medical Sciences in 2014, and in July 2023 he received the North African Higher Education Ambassador Award at the African Universities Association conference in Namibia.

A long history of giving, work, and scientific, practical and administrative effort, presented by Prof. Mahmoud El-Meteini in various practical fields.